Senators Cochran, Byrd Honored for Support of Writing

By: NWP Staff
Publication: The Voice, Vol. 9, No. 2
Date: 2004

Summary: Senators Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Robert Byrd (D-WV) recently received awards for "Extraordinary Contributions to the Art and Craft of Writing" from the National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges.

Senators Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Robert Byrd (D-WV) recently received awards for "Extraordinary Contributions to the Art and Craft of Writing" from the National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges.

The awards, presented in separate ceremonies pictured here, honored both senators' long-standing commitment to writing instruction.

Above (from left), National Writing Project Executive Director Richard Sterling presents Senator Cochran with the commission's award, in the company of Sherry Swain, NWP field director and director of the Mississippi Writing/Thinking Institute, and Commission Chair Bob Kerrey, a former senator from Nebraska and current president of New School University in New York. Cochran, the son of a school teacher and a principal, has been an avid backer of federal funding for the National Writing Project since 1991, the first year NWP was included in the U.S. Department of Education budget.

Below (from right to left), Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board and former governor of West Virginia, presents Senator Byrd with his award in the presence of Commission Chair Bob Kerrey.

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